Lessons Learned
by notthehurricanedrunk
Summary: Emma Swan finally gets to interact with both Rumpelstiltskin and Belle, but she really has to figure out how to stop interrupting their love life first. Basically it's Rumbelle from Emma's POV.


**Title:** Lessons Learned

**Word Count**: 5080

**Rating:** M

**Author Notes:** This fic is over 5,000 words now so I figured I should post it before it becomes entirely AU; which it will because it's silly and _smutty_ and because this is so not the way Emma's first meeting with Belle will actually go.

It could have happened like this though. Maybe.

Any and all daft mistakes are my own. Here we go.

**Chapter One – Mistakes Made**

Emma didn't know exactly what it was about Storybrooke that still set her teeth on edge, but she had her suspicions. She was glad to be back; even supposed this place was her home now, but she continued to feel completely out of her depth all the same. That feeling, at least, was familiar. It was an improvement on the level of alarm and fear she felt in the strange land she had so recently escaped but she sensed that some of the same problems she had there would crop up this side of the divide.

She didn't know anything about navigating a world inhabited by characters she only knew from stories and films. The only shared history she truly had with all these people amounted to a few moments with her parents as a new-born baby and the various interactions since she arrived in this place with individuals who weren't at all their real selves.

In all the time she had known them here they had simply been Regina's playthings, actors in a meaningless play, flat and empty lives with no meaning and no connection to what they had been in the before: more like shadows or echoes rather than actual people. She wasn't sure what they thought about that fact but she wasn't happy about it. It was a mess, and it made her head hurt.

She supposed she would continue to exist in a state of confusion and surprise until she found out who they really were and could make sense of how they could exist.

Life in Storybrooke certainly couldn't be the same as before because before everything had been a lie, false and hollow, for over 28 years. So, she didn't know anyone here at all, not really; Henry was the only exception. He was still Henry, as he always had been and always must be.

Mr Gold, however, was another thing entirely, existing in some murky grey in-between place it seemed, as was so often the case. He had to have known who he was for some time. She couldn't be sure how long he'd had that awareness so many others lacked, no more than she could be sure just how honest he'd been in his dealings with her, but at least the chances he would act like an entirely new person were slim. She'd ask him to explain some things to her later, but there were more pressing matters to attend to first.

After some food she could recognise as such, a bubble bath and a change of clothes were a definite priority.

Emma had been enjoying her soak in the tub when she realised she'd made a classic mistake. The large fluffy towel Mary Margaret - _Snow_ _White_- _her mother_ had handed her on the way into the bathroom had been left sitting on the wooden chair by the door. A chair several feet away and well beyond her reach, and wasn't that just perfect. She stretched out in its direction anyway, arm fully extended, fingertips not even close, rolled her eyes at her own idiocy and froze seconds later when the towel flew across the room and hit her in the face, before dropping to the floor soundlessly.

"What the fuck?"

Either Emma had performed another act of magic or they had gained a ghost.

She didn't even know if ghosts were even real. She knew magic certainly was.

"Shit."

There had been no sign of Gold at his shop: it was closed up and there didn't seem to be any movement inside. With few other options Emma decided that she should probably visit his house before she gave up on speaking to him for the night.

She'd had been half-way up the steps of his house when she heard a something that stopped her in her tracks. It was a combination of what sounded suspiciously like a cry of distress and a load moan, or maybe a muffled cry that turned into a moan: either way to her ear it sounded very like a woman in trouble, and who knew what Gold was doing to her.

The gun was in her hand before she even realised she'd reached for it. Emma's heart felt like it was beating out of her chest as the feminine cries that had put her on alert became louder and took on an ever more desperate quality, and, dreading what she would find, Emma was through the front door, past the hall and standing in Gold's front room before the cry ended.

She blinked in disbelief as she took in the scene before her.

Gold was situated between the gasping woman's legs, thrusting into her with some force, as she arched her back and tugged on the hair at the nape of his neck with one hand, the other grasping the back of the leather Chesterfield sofa that Emma could not remember seeing the last time she had let herself into his home. They were certainly making good use of it. It was situated directly in front of a crackling fire, and Emma imagined that if the room hadn't been so well lit with lamps that the fire's shifting light and the frantically moving bodies on the sofa would have cast some pretty interesting shadows about the room, but what the fucking hell was she even looking at. She couldn't move or even breathe.

The woman's legs were wrapped sinuously around Gold's, urging him on, her pale skin pressed against every inch of him she could reach and it was blatantly fucking obvious Emma had made yet another mistake. This girl was obviously right where she wanted to be; those noises she had heard from the fucking street were absolutely not sounds of pain, and had Gold's ass always looked like that, she didn't recall a time when she would have even looked before, clothed or otherwise. _Breathe, Emma, breathe_.

As the woman's vocalisations transformed into happy sighs Emma wondered who this mysterious person was. Emma couldn't remember seeing her before, not even once.

She knew she should leave but at this point her curiosity was a living breathing thing and from the angle Emma had she could see the woman's pretty flushed face, her contented smile, the long dark curls of her hair before being distracted by the neatly painted nails on delicate hands that were drawn down Gold's back leaving faint lines, before she gripped his ass firmly in both hands and laughed and gasped again as he came with a loud groan, eventually coming to a shuddering stop, his own gasping laugh muffled as he'd pressed his face into the mussed curls of her hair.

The woman's eyelashes fluttered before her eyes opened fully, blue and sparkling and utterly shocked; Emma hoped she wasn't pointing her gun at them because that could only make the situation even worse. She realised that her arms had, at some point, dropped to her sides, her weapon and her very unnecessary rescue mission all but forgotten.

"Rumpel, we have company."

"What?" Moving faster than Emma would have thought possible from a man with only one good leg he had levered himself off of the naked girl, grabbed his shirt from the floor and threw it over her. Straightening his shoulders, he sat back down on the sofa, and turned his head toward Emma with his best icy glare in place.

His face changed only slightly when he saw just who was standing in his front room, but Emma was certain he was relieved. That didn't change the fact she couldn't think of a more awkward situation. Gold was naked. Why was he still…? Couldn't he use magic or something?

"Aren't you going to put some clothes on?"

"It's my house, Miss Swan, what I wear or don't wear is really none of your business. Now, are you going to tell me why you invited yourself in?"

Emma noticed the girl rolling her eyes as she buttoned up Gold's shirt, a fond smile almost hidden by the dark mess of her hair.

Well, the truth would have to do. "I could hear you from outside."

"Naturally you assumed I was torturing some poor soul?"

"That shouldn't come as a surprise, Gold." She could tell it didn't. He looked hurt all the same.

"Oh, it doesn't. I'm rather used to people thinking the worst of me, but, as you can see, the lady is quite unharmed."

"I'd like the lady to confirm that herself, if it's all the same to you."

Emma was well aware she'd misread the situation entirely but, really, she needed more information to make sense of what she'd just witnessed.

"Rumpel, I think that's your cue to introduce us. Be nice." Even in a state of undress she had the air of a princess, much like Aurora had. Her accent sounded Australian. It made no sense.

Sighing, her 'Rumpel' shrugged his shoulders before he started the introduction.

"Belle, this is Miss Emma Swan, formerly Sheriff Swan, Snow White's little princess all grown up, and of course, our saviour." She couldn't tell if he was mocking her, but she didn't much care.

"Miss Swan, this is Belle or Lady Belle of Dark Castle as she should be known."

Belle seemed quite amused "He's suddenly decided introducing me as Lady of his Dark Castle is much simpler than explaining I'm his true love. I am pleased to meet you, Miss Swan, and can assure you I am here of my own free will." Belle finished before standing and holding out her hand. Emma shook it silently as she tried to process the new information.

"So that's not your title?" He had a castle? Did everyone have one back there? She supposed someone as powerful as Rumpelstiltskin apparently was should have a castle; maybe more than one. Who knew anymore? It made as much sense as anything else in that land did. His finding a true love - that was much more interesting news.

"It could be, I suppose, but the original deal, I recall, was for me to be the caretaker of his rather large estate." There was a suggestive tone in Belle's voice that Emma didn't understand, Gold's absolutely filthy laugh confirmed she wasn't imaging things and it all gave her the impression it was a private joke. An apparently very dirty private joke; she hoped she didn't look as wide eyed and alarmed as she felt.

"I should have made you my queen instead." He said all too casually, and when Emma looked in his direction she saw that purple smoke surrounded him. In its wake he was left fully dressed but his expression soon turned apologetic. "You will forgive me, won't you sweetheart?"

"Forgive you for using magic…or for not making me your queen, Rumpelstiltskin?"

"Either. Both, I suppose." His shrugged and reached for his cane.

"How could I be queen when you're not a king?" Belle's eyes were narrowed and her expression spoke of someone fighting not to smile.

"I wouldn't have to be." He murmured, moving ever closer. "Queen Belle would rule all the dark lands, brave and true, and I would be her ever willing-"

"-Husband?" Belle interrupted.

"..and servant." He bowed and glanced up under his eyelashes, his entire manner subservient.

That was a lot to take in and Belle looked like she was about to jump him (again) so Emma wracked her brain for something to say.

"So. Belle - isn't that French for..."

"Beautiful. Yes, Miss Swan, she is the famed Beauty of the tale." He looked proud.

"That makes you..." He couldn't be.

"…Her very own beast? Indeed it does." Well, shit. She supposed he_ must_ be.

"Rumpel, don't - we've talked about this. You are not a beast!" Belle looked at him with an intensity that made Emma want to look away.

"She's right. You don't look anything like a beast so what's the deal?" She probably should have paid more attention to Henry's book. It was too late now.

"Well, here I look like a man, but make no mistake Miss Swan, I'm not quite human. Back in our land you wouldn't recognise me." What did that even _mean_?

"She would. Just because you looked a little different doesn't mean people wouldn't recognise you. " Obviously this was a sore point for them.

"You don't think the shimmering skin would give her pause, my dear? Nor my strange eyes, the claws, those teeth?" The lilt to his voice and the exaggerated movement of his hand seemed to provoke Belle, and she scoffed at him, defiant.

"Oh, please. The leather trousers were more distracting than all of those things."

He blinked, as did Emma. What was he in that place?

"So speaks a woman in love. I can assure there is no-one else who would see me as you do." The fondness in his eyes and the love in his voice were obvious, and again Emma was deeply uncomfortable with such open emotion. She should say something.

"You had claws and wore leather?" Emma could hear the doubt in her own voice. She hoped this all made more sense in the morning.

"Leather and claws, yes, and teeth sharp and stained enough to make any dentist in this world run screaming into the night. I also promised a land's safety in return for a beautiful maiden, just so I could keep her all to myself. Did you somehow miss that detail?" He sounded angry, more at himself than anyone else in this room. His contained anger was more familiar than the affectionate tones he had used with Belle but it made Emma almost as uncomfortable.

"Enough. Emma must have come here to see you for a reason, so why don't we find out what she has to say?" Her fierce stare held him and he was calm in seconds. "You are right, my dear. Was there something you wanted help with Miss Swan? You are again in need of my assistance, correct?"

"Yeah, I think…I think I used magic."

"To repel Cora, I believe we already discussed that matter, yes."

"No. I mean here. I used magic here, in Storybrooke."

"That would explain how you got in," he pointed towards the hallway behind her, "that door was securely locked, and yet it appears undamaged by your entry. When did this first happen? Do try to be specific Miss Swan."

"Okay. I was in the tub, finally able to enjoy a bath."

"Specific about the use of magic, dearie, not your bathing habits." Well, someone wasn't in the mood for a long story or much detail, but she supposed she was keeping him from what he really wanted to be doing.

"I'm getting to that, okay? I left the towel across the room and it flew at me. Hit me right in the face. I didn't mean to do it but, I don't know, I don't think it was a ghost. Are ghosts a possibility now? I don't know how any of this magical crap works."

"The 'magical crap' doesn't involve ghosts, no, not usually. Did you gesture in the direction of the towel?" Emma nodded. "Which hand?"

Emma reached out and he took her hand and stared at it intently, turning it over and running his fingers along it.

"When you summoned it was there any smoke or light? Did you feel any tingling or heat in your hand?" His fingers had moved to surround her wrist and she felt a faint hum of something but it was gone entirely a second later.

"I don't remember seeing any smoke or light, but there was definitely no tingling or heat, it just sort of happened. I didn't feel weird or anything." She felt utterly frustrated. Wouldn't she have noticed that sort of power surging through her? What did it mean that she hadn't?

He dropped her hand and Emma flexed her fingers, wondering what she expected him to actually do about it if she did have any actual magical powers to speak of.

"I can feel the magic buzzing away just under your skin, dearie, but as you don't seem to have any awareness of it you have no means of controlling it. Magic will not bend to your will unless you can recognise the power and make efforts to master it. Without that control I'm afraid it can be very… unpredictable." She knew that was an understatement.

"How do I master it? How do I become aware or whatever? Gold, you have to help out here."

"Oh do I?" He didn't seem convinced.

Belle stepped between them, her hands moving to Gold's shoulders.

"Rumpelstiltskin, you can and _you will_ help her. She doesn't know what magic can do, what if she hurts someone? _You_ can show her how to do this, you could teach her how to control her magic and you can both use your powers for good. You can do this, Rumpel, I believe in you."

"Belle, you honestly trust me to use magic?" If she didn't trust him to before, it was obvious she did now.

"Yes. I promise. Maybe this is your best chance, perhaps it's better this way. Maybe you don't have to give up on magic; you just need to use it to help and protect others. Not for killing, or maiming but for the town's protection and defence." She seemed so confident that this was possible that Emma knew Gold would have to agree.

"So, you can teach me?" Belle stepped into the circle of his arms and nodded as she turned to face Emma, Gold's hand brushing against her side before resting on her hip.

"I can."

Belle smiled at him over her shoulder. "He can and he will."

It was decided. Gold would instruct her on magic and his beautiful Belle would keep him from killing her, hopefully. It was close to win-win as Emma ever got.

"I'm sure this can wait until tomorrow so I better get going. Sorry for bursting in on you."

"You're not even the worst interruption we had this week so I suppose all can be forgiven." There was something more intrusive than her seeing them have sex?

"The interruption was worse due the the person involved, Miss Swan, not because of the situation."

Belle could read the question on her face and answered. "Regina. I'd be quite happy to never see her face again."

"Why?" It was beyond Emma how Regina could have crossed such a girl so badly that she couldn't even stand to see her.

"She imprisoned Belle for 30 years after telling me she had died in tragic circumstances. She led me to believe I was to blame."

"You're kidding." You could tell from their expressions they weren't.

"She locked you up for… that's why you wanted to kill her." Gold nodded, his face tense.

Everything clicked into place, and she wasn't sure she could blame Gold for wanting Regina dead. He _usually_ had a good reason for exacting revenge but she couldn't allow his particular brand of justice in this town. Not as Sheriff. She remembered Valentine's day so very clearly...wait.

"You're Moe French's daughter." They both flinched and Emma knew she should let the subject drop. "She was the girl that he hurt, that could never come back." She felt choked just looking at Gold's face, his remembered sorrow crossing his features before he could stop it.

"I'm sorry." She hoped he understood just how sorry she was. It was a horrible thing for Regina to do to anyone; her lie had almost led to Gold beating his girl's father to death. She certainly still had a lot to answer for.

Emma laughed, feeling suddenly brighter. That girl didn't really die, she was here, alive and well and things were taking a turn for the better. Regina couldn't win this time. "I'll try to remember to knock next time. I promise."

"That would be appreciated. Thank you, Miss Swan."

"I'll be Sheriff Swan again soon, you know. It will happen, as soon as I can wrestle the badge away from David."

"I see you got the gun away from him easily enough."

"This isn't the same gun, and I think he likes the badge more than he likes the gun." She shrugged, not sure how to explain it.

"He always was easily distracted by shiny things." That startled a delighted laugh out of the subdued Belle.

"Look who's talking! You're a magpie and you know it."

"I wasn't suggesting he collected bright objects, I was merely calling him an idiot." Emma should protest but she didn't know what to say. David was an idiot and she could only hope Charming wasn't, she had no actual knowledge of him, it appeared Gold did.

"You are mean, Rumpelstiltskin; you shouldn't insult her father."

"Thank you, Belle. You have no idea how nice it is to see that there's someone who can keep him civil. I hope to see you again soon. Though maybe less of you than I saw tonight." They were both blushing now and Emma felt the need to laugh again but pushed it down ruthlessly.

Teasing Gold about this would be more fun than she thought.

"I would like that very much, Emma. It's so nice to make new friends."

"It really is." She doubted Gold would agree, he'd probably keep her all to himself if given the choice but it was plain to her than Belle would be the one in charge here. That was reassuring on a level Emma couldn't explain. She could deal with this.

"Right, it's time to go home to my parents before they decide to send out a party of misfit fairy tale types to rescue me."

"They do seem the sort, don't they?"

"They do, unfortunately. Walk me to the door?" he nodded and moved with her while Belle went back towards the sofa.

"So, these lessons, when do start and where do we do this?"

"If tomorrow suits we can start then, around 10, at my shop. I keep most of my supplies there."

"No problem." He had magical supplies; of course he did. She wanted to laugh again.

Belle waved from the comfortable sofa as the front door was opened for her.

"You really lucked out you know, she's beautiful, and she won't take any of your bullshit. I think you need that."

"Oh, really." He raised his eyebrows at her and gave her his best grin.

"Yep. You know I'm right." She raised how own eyebrows at him in return before walking out the door.

He stood in the doorway and stood watch as she headed towards her car, as if he didn't trust her not to fall down his front steps or something, and for some reason that tickled her.

"Hey Gold," she was feeling a lot braver now there was some distance between them. "I forgot to mention: nice ass!"

The door slammed and Emma let her laughter overtake her.

Emma got the call just as she parked outside her building; Mary Margaret was at the diner with David and suggested she call in for a drink or two with them so they could get to know each other more.

Bonding over alcohol, she could get behind that. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad.

An hour later and Emma was telling Ruby and her mother more than she intended about walking in on Gold and his lady love.

"How much did you see?" Ruby was beside herself, and Emma was easily carried along with her excitement.

"I saw enough. They were um, finishing when I got there, but they weren't exactly wearing much…"

"Does he look good naked?" She should have seen that one coming.

"What?" She wasn't sure Mary Margaret's eyebrows could get any higher, but there was no point stopping now.

"You heard me!" Ruby was bouncing in her seat and Emma had no clue why it felt so good to gossip about this stuff but _what the hell._

"Better than I thought he would." Which was really fucking weird because she hadn't been aware she'd given that subject any thought at all. "Toned, sort of nicely shaped? Not really muscular but his ass was pretty great for, what is he, nearly 50? I told him as much."

"Try 300." Mary Margaret chimed in, apparently getting into the spirit of things.

"Bullshit!" Emma choked, trying not to spill her drink.

"No, not bullshit, Rumpelstiltskin is over 300 years old. Maybe even close to 350 now. Wait, what you mean you told him as much?"

"I may have shouted he had a nice ass before I got in the car and left." Their twin gasps made her smile.

"May have?" Her mother did not sound entirely pleased.

"I'm hedging, I totally did. I said it. I was half tempted to add 'and congrats on being a good fuck' but my self-preservation kicked in." Ruby was laughing so hard that half the diner turned in their direction before losing interest and looking away again.

Ruby had calmed down almost entirely by the time David returned to the table with their drinks, blissfully unaware of the current topic of discussion.

"Well, good for Belle, she deserves a good sex life with her true love. She has a lot of time to make up for." Ruby grabbed her drink and hummed happily as she sipped the garish red cocktail.

"I guess they both do. All that time apart, and who knows just how many years he went without any human contact or affection before they met."

"You're talking about Belle and Rumpelstiltskin? How did we get onto the subject Dark One and his True Love?"

"Our daughter interrupted a very happy reunion. Ruby was pressing for details." David caught on after a second.

"Emma, don't you knock?" He looked at her like he expected better. It made Emma feel quite defensive.

"Not when I hear screaming like that, I don't. Belle is pretty loud, I mean, you wouldn't think it to look at her, she's tiny, but really freaking loud. I didn't know they were sex sounds until I was in there."

David didn't know what to say to that and Emma sat back, feeling slightly smug.

Ruby raised her glass and encouraged everyone else to do the same. "Do we do toasts?" Emma asked, holding her beer aloft.

"We do." Her parents said in unison.

Ruby smiled the most wicked smile in her arsenal and waited a second for full effect.

"Here's to Rumpelstiltskin knowing how to make a girl come so hard she could wake the dead!"

"To Rum-holy shit, there goes my drink." Emma couldn't finish the toast and she couldn't see for the tears in her eyes, and realised she wasn't the only one. She tried again, as Ruby, David and Mary Margaret's laughter continued.

"To Rumpelstiltskin!"

She hoped he would forgive her for this in the morning…maybe he wouldn't find out.

The first lesson went surprisingly well considering her hangover, and Gold was endlessly patient with her questions. Belle joined them in the back room of his shop but didn't interfere at any point, seemingly trusting him to know what he was doing.

It was sort of heart-warming to see Belle and Gold together, but excessively awkward because Emma found the image of them entwined from the night before kept popping into her head and her face felt hot every time. Did his powers include mind-reading? She didn't know. He could probably guess just by looking at her, though. _Fuck_.

Most of the lesson was just Gold talking about magic and the type of things she might be able to do if she could get the hang of using it. The limitations on what magic could do were few and far between, it seemed, and that was a heady and scary thought. But magic always came with a price, he insisted. He repeated the phrase and asked her to do the same later when she was alone, as a sort of mantra, because it was the most important lesson to remember.

Magic worked differently here (just how differently was an unknown) but he promised Emma that tapping into her magical reserves and using them in productive ways was less risky than letting it go uncontrolled. Her anger and other intense emotions could easily result in unpredictable manifestations of her magic that could harm others, and maybe even kill if she was extremely upset or particularly powerful.

It was obvious she really needed his help.

Emma really couldn't afford to fuck this up. It was in her best interests to keep on Gold's good side; at least it seemed he finally had one. She'd stop talking about his sex life and would be happy to become friends with Belle. That shouldn't be a challenge, but she wondered if Gold had ever needed or wanted friendship in his life, too. It was worth a shot but she definitely wasn't holding her breath.

"You have got to be kidding me."

Emma was half an hour early for her second lesson but apparently that was another foolish mistake. She had hoped he'd be mildly impressed at her enthusiasm and passion for learning or whatever; obviously that wasn't going to be the case because she'd intruded on his love life yet again. This time she was going to pretend it was mostly his fault. It probably was.

"It's the middle of the day, Gold. Seriously."

Belle was on his counter, her blouse was unbuttoned, her lips were swollen and she had the look of a woman who had been well kissed. One look at Emma's expression and she was struggling to keep a straight face and soon she was laughing into Gold's shoulder, unable to even speak.

"I'm quite aware of that Sheriff Swan but I assure you I was provoked." He didn't look the least bit sorry and she wanted to throw something as his stupid smug face. She really needed more coffee if she was going to deal with this again.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm sure you just couldn't help yourself. I'm leaving. I'll come back in an hour and maybe we can start then."

"Emma." She was already half-way to the door when his voice reached her, stopping her in her tracks, a quick glance over her shoulder let her know his hands had settled on Belle's thighs and were deftly sliding her skirt up her legs, clearly intent on his goal.

"Make it two and we have a deal."

"_Two hours_? How...? You know what, I don't even want to know; pretend I didn't ask! I'm out of here."

Despite her irritation she flipped his sign over to 'closed' as she left.

They didn't need another interruption today.


End file.
